Lesson 23: Energy Patterns: Circles

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Lesson 23: Energy Patterns Part 1. Circles

One of the fundamental expressions of nature, honored in sacred geometry, are concentric circles radiating out from a center point. Drop a stone into a pond and watch how the wave train keeps extending on and on from the point of contact. Water is a wonderful medium for wave transition, and the human body is essentially 70% water. Recognize that, with every heart beat, waves radiate out from the heart, through your body, and on into the world around you. The heart produces a sound wave (try listening through a stethoscope!)

As the key to our somatic explorations require sensitivity in all three spatial dimensions, we can imagine concentric circles rippling out along the three major planes of the body (by rotating the surface of the pond). If we are standing, the first plane, the transverse, divides upper and lower, as if we were standing in the pond with water at heart level. Or, we can imagine floating in the pond and the circles extend out in a plane dividing front to back, the coronal plane. Finally, we can be on our sides the saggital plane dividing right and left, and follow the circles this way. Try this is any of your favorite poses. Let the concentric circles do the work.

On a larger scale we find the sun as the center of more concentric (almost) circles. If  you are in a cosmic mood, feel that from the earth, there are circles in toward the sun, out out to mars and beyond. The planets orbiting makes the energy imagespatterns more complex. This is of course subtle, especially for such a dense species as the modern human. But it is a glimpse of possibilities ready to awaken. If you are ready to go galactic, find the spiraling images-13energies of the Milky Way, our home base here in the larger cosmos. This will wake up some memories.

Speaking of awakening, the concentric circles and interwoven circles play a major role in the archetypal seed of life, flower of life and fruit of life images-3symbols. In the seed of life to the left, we find a center circle which becomes the intersection point of six more circles of the same radius, each tangent to the next outer concentric circle. The flower of life adds a third circle, continuing the pattern of overlapping circles of the same radius.

Embedded in the ‘Flower of Life’ is the ‘Fruit of images-4Life’ which gives birth to Metatrons’ Cube, which, expanded into three dimensions, gives birth to the five Platonic solids and the star tetrahedron (a stellated version of the octahedron).

images-6images-11Finding these in the poses requires
a bit of imagination in the beginning as we visualize each vertex as a point of light and see how the soma, the living matrix of the body, responds. What is evoked? What opens? What confusion appears?

images-12

images-7Find the interwoven triangles, squares and pentagons. Some poses may be more revealing, especially sitting, or restorative postures where you can rest quietly for some time. It is a treasure hunt.

More Circles!

Like tree rings, our spinal discs have annular rings. In healthy discs, these rings are strong, dynamic and allow a circular flow of energy.

The nucleus pulposis, the sphere of gel like substance in the center takes on a spherical shape. When unhealthy, the sphere flatten and the rings can crack open like checking in wood. Because the discs sit right next to

the spinal canal, the gel like substance can leak out into the surrounding spaces and put pressure on the spinal nerves. Herniation describes a weakness in the annular rings and bulging out of the whole disc into the nerve space. A rupture is when the annular rings breaks open and the nucleus pulposis pour into the area of the nerve roots. Keep your spine long through breath, imagination, and healthy connection to gravity. Keep your discs vibrant through intelligent use of hip and sacro-illiac joints. Discovery of the power of the radiant energies to strengthen the discs and sustain lightness through the nucleus pulposis. The original spine, the primitive noto-chord is found in the line through the disc centers. Open it to the light. Keep practicing. Stay awake. Open heart!

We have been exploring concentric circles in nature and now we will look at them in a form near and dear to all of us, sphincters. According to freedictionary.com, a sphincter is: A ringlike muscle that normally maintains constriction of a body passage or orifice and that relaxes as required by normal physiological functioning.

Wisegeek.com adds:  “A sphincter is a ring of muscle which holds any kind of biological opening closed. Sphincters are an important part of almost any system in a body. They help to both regulate the exit, entrance and circulation of fluids, gasses, and solids. Sphincters help blood to move through a circulatory system and bile and nutrients to go through the digestive systems. They also assist in the voiding of wastes.”

There are as many as 50 different sphincters inside the human body. Some are external, such as the mouth, and others are microscopically internal, such as the ones in capillaries. A sphincter in the eye controls the contracting and widening of the iris when it is exposed to light, and there are sphincters which help control the flow of pancreatic juices.

Some sphincters are under voluntary control, while others are involuntary. These sphincters are differentiated by being controlled by two different types of nerves, the somatic, or voluntary, and the autonomic, or involuntary. An example of an involuntary sphincter is the Ileocecal sphincter. Also known as the Ileocecal valve, it closes off the the small intestine so that food that has not been fully broken down won’t pass into the next stage of digestion. The rectum has both a voluntary and an involuntary sphincter—the first moves wastes through the tract, while the second allows control over bowel movements.

In the digestive track we have a long convoluted tube with both longitudinal muscle fibers and ring-like circular fibers and it is these muscular rings that we will focus on. In healthy peristalsis, the wavelike muscular contractions of the intestine or other tubular structure that propel the contents onward by alternate contraction and relaxation, the rings oscillate between expanding/opening and condensing/closing. Sphincters are like one-way gates that open to allow material to pass through and then close to prevent back-flow.

In a healthy body the rhythm of peristalsis depends upon the demands of the moment. When sympathetic activity like exercise or stress dominates, peristaltic motility decreases, the sphincters contract and secretion of enzymes decreases. When relaxing parasympathetic activity dominates, there is an increase in motility, a relaxing of the sphincters and an increase in secretions. A healthy organism transitions smoothly back and forth across the whole spectrum of possibilities, widening and narrowing, expanding and condensing. The relationship between skeletal muscle and smooth muscle is alert and respectful, like yin and yang.

Is it possible, in a yoga posture, to have the inherent motility, the rhythmic oscillation between expanding and condensing of the rings in the digestive track, be the primary source of information and support? What would it feel like if the whole digestive system were in synchrony with posture and movement? In forward bending poses, there is the obvious tendency, if we are not attentive to collapse onto the GI tract and restrict the organs altogether. In backbending poses, if we are not careful and alert,  instead of relaxing and opening the GI tract even further to open the pose, the tendency is to go sympathetic, contract the outer spinal muscles, and constrict GI motility. In twits, ride the rings around an a circle, remembering to always have a seed of clockwise balancing counterclockwise movements, and vice versa. Find the peristaltic rhythm. Feel it from mouth to anus and everywhere in between. Find the sphincters. Stay in at least three dimensions. Add tone where needed, relax tone where there is excess. Then let the muscles and bones find flow and harmony within and without.

Good luck![/two_third]

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Beginning: Related Links
1. Developing Mindful Awareness
2. Attending to the Breath
3. Orienting to Grounding and Lightness

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Recent Posts

The Ten Oxherding Pictures

A Holiday Gift from the Buddhist World to all of us.

The ten Oxherding Pictures from Zen Buddhism represent the stages and path to awakening, integration and enlightenment, with the Ox representing our True Nature and the Oxherder each of us, the embodied being. It is important to note that the stages are not linear but spiralic and multi-dimensional, as we usually can get glimpses of more advanced levels before we have truly completed and integrated the any or all of the previous ones.

Also, we may often be working with several stages at the same time. More subtle awakenings in one level may trigger unconscious and unresolved traumas stored in the earlier levels that then need to be revisited, transformed and integrated. Then, the energy held in trauma is resolved and free to use for deeper growth.

There are many variations on the ten pictures representing the stages, and these are usually accompanied by poetic verses and/or commentary describing the journey. The paintings seen below are traditionally attributed to 天章周文 Tenshō Shūbun (1414-1463), of the Muromachi period in the late fifteenth century and are found at the Shōkokuji temple in Kyoto, Japan.

These stages can be seen as three sets of three transformations, with the final stage standing alone. The first three are the beginners journey, the second three those of the intermediate student, and the final three the most subtle and refined. The tenth transcends all and resolves as the awakened Buddha in the world helping others. Looking more deeply and ironically, we find that ultimately it is the Ox who is training and leading the Oxherder

1: Seeking the Ox
We know something is missing in our lives, but don’t know what it might be, or where to look. Our souls ache, our spirit feels fragile. The spiritual journey begins, but our minds are full of confusion and delusion. Our search is random and we cannot find the Ox anywhere. This is Dante at the beginning of The Divine Comedy.

2: Seeing Tracks of the Ox
Through study and guidance we begin to get glimpses. Maybe we discover yoga or meditation, or find spiritual teachers or writings that inspire us. But although we see the tracks, the Ox is still unseen, unknown. The tracks give us some confidence and we continue seeking, driven by the awakening cosmic impulse to discover/uncover the fullness and truth of our Being. The Ox is calling us.

3: First Glimpsing the Ox
There is the Ox. Wow! So magnificent! How did we ever not see! But the Ox remains elusive, disappearing into the forest. How could that be? Our minds are still confused, our seeking still undisciplined. The Ox teases us. She is everywhere and then nowhere to be found. Our mental habits and beliefs still dominate in spite of the revelation and we struggle to find ground. We are still beginners on the journey.

4: Catching the Ox
We finally catch the ox and grasp the rope to hold her, but she is wild and free, used to cavorting in the fields. We must hold the rope firmly and steadily. The rope of course is our evolving meditation practice and this is where it gets more serious. We are no longer beginners. We are in the realm of un-abiding awakening and must be ‘all in’ with our practice to stabilize the ground. Habits and conditioning have many tentacles extending into the unconscious, so our discipline must become stronger. The Ox keeps us on our toes.

5: Taming the Ox
As our practice becomes stronger, we can hold the rope more loosely as the Ox is relaxing somewhat. It is actually the mind that is relaxing as we begin to realize that the Ox is always steady and it is our minds that are wild and untamed. By relaxing our efforts, our practices can now include resting in the infinite and we become more comfortable in stillness and mystery. Habits still arise as the unconscious has many layers and levels of confusion and trauma, but we recognize the reality that our thoughts arise and fall from the depths of silence and that our delusion is self created.

6: Riding the Ox Back Home
The seeking and struggle come to an end and we can let go of the rope as Ox and herder are one, moving effortlessly together though the world. Buddha Nature is awake and free and we feel spontaneous joy and happiness. The Oxherder plays his flute for the birds and children of the village. This joy and delight can be a surprise as the practice has seemed quite serious at times. Unseen unconscious traumas may still exist so vigilance is still required.

7: Ox Forgotten, Self Alone
The Ox is now gone and the Oxherder sits at home alone. This is ‘Self as ‘I am’ without the need to ‘be something. This is Kaivalya of the Yoga Sutras, Purusha distinct from Prakriti. Up until now, there has remained a subtle sense of duality, of practice and life, of spiritual and not spiritual. This now dissolves. There is no longer ‘something to do’. Everything is meditation and nothing is special. Things are ‘just as they are’.

8: Ox and Self Both Forgotten
Total Emptiness. No concepts, ideas or beliefs, no sense of separateness. Even the “I am” is gone. All gone. Not even the scent of ‘holiness’ or special-ness remains. Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate.

9: Return to the Source
From the realization of Emptiness emerges the realization that the amazing flow of life always continues on in its own perfection. Seasons come and go. Cherry trees bloom in the spring. Birds sing and the rivers flow. Stars are born and others explode into cosmic dust. Emptiness is Fullness, Fullness is Emptiness. Bodhi svaha!

10: Returning to the Marketplace with Helping Hands
The enlightened being joyfully joins the world to aid all beings on their journey. Freedom, wisdom and compassion are the roots of action. Enlightenment is not passive but celebratory and engaged.

Here are some other perspectives:
From Tricycle Magazine
https://terebess.hu/english/Kuoan1.html
https://terebess.hu/english/oxherd0.html

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